On Saturday, Mayor Murray hosted the Seattle Neighborhood Summit at Seattle Center’s Exhibition Hall where hundreds of Seattle residents participated in community engagement sessions, talked with City department representatives, and learned from one another during peer networking sessions.

The Mayor saw this summit as a way to work on building a healthier relationship between City government and Seattle neighborhoods. “This Summit is meant to be the beginning of a conversation and resetting of tone,” he said. “The idea of community is working together. That’s what we have to remember as we move forward. That’s what we have to renew.”

The Mayor asked the crowd to, no matter what, stay engaged. He also encouraged everyone in the room to rethink the way they approach controversial, and sometimes frustrating, policy conversations. “You might think that microhousing is the worst idea in the world, but the important thing is that we respect each other, listen to each other, and try and solve our differences.”

The event included a presentation from Diane Douglas of CityClub on Seattle’s “Civic Health,” a look back at how the City’s relationship with neighborhoods was originally structured by former City Councilmember Jim Street, a public comment period about what attendees were looking for in the next Department of Transportation Director, and a technology demo of a new online civic engagement tool called Consider.It.

The final agenda for this Saturday’s Neighborhood Summit is now available! The event will be held at Seattle Center’s Exhibition Hall which is located at Mercer Street and 3rd Avenue N., next to McCaw Hall. The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Child care and light refreshments will be provided.

Seattle Neighborhood Summit Agenda

9:00 am – 9:30 am

Meet Your Elected Officials: Mayor Murray and his team are available to speak informally with Summit participants. The Mayor will address the attendees formally at 9:30 a.m.

Roundtable with City Departments: Connecting participants to City departments’ services and programs. Staff will share their inside view of how to work with departments. Over 20 departments will be present, and several will provide direct services in real time such as signing up for a library card, registering for a pet license, reporting a pothole, signing up for utility discount programs, and more.

9:30 am – 9:35 am

Welcome and opening remarks by Mayor Ed Murray

9:40 am

Highly attached residents are more likely to actively contribute to a community’s growth. This presentation touches upon, trust, technology, and enfranchising communities. What does Seattle do well and where we can improve? A Q&A will follow.

10:15 am- 10:45 am

In 1987, the city passed Resolution 27709 creating what we now know as the City Neighborhood Council and the District Council system. The District Council system is 27 years old. Learn the intent behind the resolution. A Q&A will follow.

10:50 am- 11:20 am

Session 3Peer Networking
Moderators: Community Members

Connect with your neighbors. We are fortunate enough to be joined by some innovative Seattle residents who are doing amazing work, many of whom were noted by you in an online survey as valuable community resources. We couldn’t agree more. Listen to their stories and learn from their experience.

Resources for networking:

Cindi Barker: Community emergency communications hub.

Lee Harper: Engaging the community, connecting with neighbors over a project or an idea.

Melissa Jonas: Facebook: not just for puppy pictures. Using social media to connect communities.

Jonah Spangenthal-Lee: His outreach campaigns have received national and international media coverage. Learn how and why.

Austin Miller: How to submit a meeting request to the Mayor’s Office.

Lisa Rutzick: Walk through Design Review.

Cari Simson: How to improve neighborhood liveability and water quality through rain gardens.

Jessica Vets: How to build a thriving neighborhood business district, and the connection between residents, employees and business owners.

11:25 am- 11:55 am

Session 4The Search for a New Transportation Director
Facilitator Susan Coskey, Director of Personnel at the City of Seattle

The City of Seattle is conducting a national search to find an experienced, well-respected, and accountable executive to effectively lead the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) The Mayor is committed to a transparent process, and is engaging the people of Seattle in a conversation about the qualities they would like to see in an SDOT Director which is why we are devoting a portion of the Seattle Neighborhood Summit to this very topic. A Q&A will follow.

12:00 pm- 12:20 pm

Session 5How We Communicate
Presenter Travis Kriplean

Travis will do a demonstration of Consider.It, a social technology that lets hundreds of people deliberate an issue together online. A Q&A will follow.

12:20 pm – 12:30 pm

Closing Remarks

12:30 pm – 1:00 pm

Peer Networking

9:00 am – 12:30 pm Ongoing Activities

Roundtable with City Department: City services are delivered by city departments. Knowing which department does what is a critical first step to having an impact on service delivery to your neighborhood. This workshop will bring staff from city departments to share their inside view of how to get results.

Curbside Consulting: Staffed tables available for one on one tutorials, including how to navigate the City’s website. Have questions? Get answers!

Exhibits include:

Information on the Comprehensive Plan

Parks and Recreation’s Imagination Play Station

Block image printmaking of your neighborhood with the guidance of a teaching artist

Mayor Murray was interviewed this week for Seattle Channel’s Emmy-winning feature magazine show CityStream by host Angela King. The Mayor discussed his administration’s priorities, the upcoming Neighborhood Summit, and what he’s looking forward to the most in the next four years.

Listing police reform as his top priority, the Mayor also highlighted his goal of working more closely with neighborhood groups.

“We’re going to begin with a Neighborhood Summit in April. We’re going to invite people who live in the city to help us develop the methods they can be more involved in in making decisions about the character in their neighborhoods,” Mayor Murray said. “I think we’ve grown distant in City Hall from the decision making in neighborhoods.”

The Mayor also shared what was most surprising about his first few weeks in office (everyone in Seattle knows who their Mayor is and they are eager to chat!) and the aspect he enjoys most.

“The thing I look forward to is that contact with people, that chance to get out in different communities and work on very different issues. It’s the part that I find most exciting,” the Mayor said. “I just love to get out there, get in a crowd and mix it up. I realize it’s not always going to be positive, but it’s very exciting.”

You can see the show in its entirety here, which also features segments on the Office of Civil Rights’ Racial Equity program, an update on the Families and Ed Levy program, and a story about safety with City Light. The Mayor’s segment begins at the 7:58 mark.